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economist suntribune community saturday feb 5 2000 13 patient feels left out in cold newmarket man must travel to markham stouffville hospital by jennifer brown staff writer gerry lebel has found out the hard way that a move to regionalize hospital programs often leaves patients out in the cold in march 1998 lebel was diagnosed with miller- fisher syndrome a condition caused by an inflam mation of the nerves which causes a tingling sensa tion in the arms and legs it is an inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nerves outside the brain and spinal cord and often includes the rapid onset of weakness arid paralysis of the legs arms and breathingfacial rriuscles lebel 48 of newmarket describes the syn drome as feeling like his limbs are tingling all the time and from the time he left hospital almost two years ago lebel says he found it difficult to find the rehab services he needed close to home at york county hospital because the program was cut in 1996 he was forced to seek care at markham stouffville hospital my frustration was once i was discharged from hospital there was no mechanism to follow up said lebel who has written to local mpp julia munro who forwarded his concerns to minister of health elizabeth winner but has received no- response people with a stroke or any other neurological problem are on their own once they are released from hospital i had to find out on my own about the program at markham stouffville for six months lebers wife drove him to markham stouffville twice a week for three and a half hours of therapy which was covered by ohtp therapists assisted lebel in working with his arms and legs and an occupational therapist helped improve gripping with his hands but now that his treatment at markham stouffville is finished lebel says it is up to him to pay for any further care his health plan will cover up to 500 of treatment but at 80 per session he says that wont last long but theyve told me i need to continue with the physiotherapy he said in the past york county did have a limited out patient neuro rehab program for stroke patients but four years ago when the ministry of health began cutting back hospital funding it was elimi nated there was a small number of people being served and we decided they could be served else where so at that point nobody was disadvan taged said pat norman vicerpresident of york county hospital that was 1996 and new funding has not been made available for the program york north mpp julia munro said it is up to each hospital to decide what rehab services to offer i certainly sympathize with mr lebels position that he would like to have a program that much photocelia bronkhorst gerry lebel says he cant get the services he needs to treat his millerfisher syndrome near his home in newmarket york county hospital cut the therapy program in 1996 closer to home but in terms of me hospital it becomes their decision- she said it is likely that the situation lebel faced will hap pen more arid iriore regional programs like the orie at markham stouffville wmbecome the norm jprftftfew yearvyork county hospital has ifdeused 6rieacutephase of rehab for people requiring therapy after suffering a stroke the hospital has been focussing on orthopedic rheumatology and hand rehabilitation but not neurological rehab were looking at how to provide limited out patient rehab and looking at it within the regiori and how different patient populations will be served youve got to have a critical mass of patients to serve in order to develop the expertise and have a service that has focus norman said and there is help for peoplelike lebel once they are discharged says barb kendrick program man ager for progressive care and musculoskeletal care at york county hospital programs offered either through the hospital or in the community are supposed to be outlined for the patient by staff or by the community care access centre the agency in charge of arranging home care services its a very difficult 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